Marie began her research in December 1897 in a cramped, run-down laboratory. She examined other substances that emitted rays like uranium and looked for connections.
["Marie (far right) and Pierre Curie (middle) with co-laureate Henri Becquerel (far left), 1898." Marie Curie, NobelPrize.org.]
“[The Curies' laboratory] was a cross between a stable and a potato-cellar, and, if I had not seen the worktable with the chemical apparatus, I would have thought it a practical joke.”
~ Willhelm Ostwald (chemist)
[Marie Curie, 2016]
“Its glass roof did not afford complete shelter against rain; the heat was suffocating in summer, and the bitter cold of winter was only a little lessened by the iron stove . . .”
~ Marie Curie
[Pierre Curie, 1923]
"Inside Pierre and Marie Curie’s laboratory at EMPCI, around 1898."
"Outside Pierre and Marie Curie’s laboratory at EMPCI, in 1898."
["A New Life in Paris (1891-1897)." PSL Universite Paris.]
“Yet it was in this miserable old shed that we passed the best and happiest years of our life, devoting our entire days to our work.”
~ Marie Curie
[Pierre Curie, 1923]
["Glass plate positive of a specimen of pitchblende, one of the primary mineral ores of uranium, in which Marie Curie also discovered polonium and radium." Marie Curie, NobelPrize.org.]
One compound in particular, pitchblende, emitted four times as many rays as uranium. After extracting uranium from these samples, they still emanated powerful rays, leading Marie to hypothesize that the origin was another unknown element.
Pierre abandoned his work to help Marie, and the pair worked to find the new elements, a lengthy, arduous process. They identified one in July 1898, which Marie named polonium.
She dubbed the rays it gave off radioactivity, a term that has been used officially ever since.
[An undated picture showing Marie Curie-Skolodowska with Pierre Curie, working in their laboratory in Paris. Phys.org.]
“My husband and I were so closely united by our affection and our common work that we passed nearly all of our time together.”
~ Marie Curie
[Pierre Curie, 1923]
[Francis Nelson, Syracuse Herald, 1927.]
After further experimentation, Marie recognized another element in December, which she named radium.
To satisfy critics, the Curies resolved to isolate the two elements and gathered over ten tons of pitchblende. Marie’s unwavering dedication was evident when she insisted on processing the samples, a strenuous task. Several years later, in 1902, Marie successfully isolated a decigram of radium.
